Growing towards your passions

Simplifying and Finding Joy

Our closest friends and family know that we have been considering what is next for us. The girls are out on their way to building their own lives. At our advancing ages, each year we seem to be losing more and more friends. It is part of life but something that becomes more apparent as you have lived for awhile. We have been married for over 35 years and have been in our house for 21 years, having built it and moved in when the girls were three and six. They grew up here. The once so big house got filled with toys and then clothes and trophies and photos and all of the things that are important to girls as they are growing into womanhood. We love this place and all of the memories it holds. But, we are just stewards of all the material things that we enjoy. It is time for us to find another family to build their own memories here. We are also concerned that if something were to happen to one of us, that it would be a lot of work for the survivor to tackle on their own. Neither of us want to burden the other with having to do this alone. It’s a way for us to honor our long marriage and each other.

Many of our friends have already built or purchased their forever homes. Others are improving their existing homes to suit them better as they “mature”. We all have to figure out what works for us and our family. Our home is a long way out of town on a fairly large property. While it is a lovely setting that we will most certainly miss, being a little closer to town or in town will simplify our lives over the years.

It is an almost overwhelming task to know where to start. But we have been handing things off to the girls….their stuff and also things we think they may want. Last year, I sold around $3,000 worth of items on eBay…my girls use Postmark. I also give to our local YWCA to support their thrift shop, along the Salvation Army and our church’s rummage sale. It feels good to shed and get rid of things we no longer use or need. It also makes decisions on what to bring into our home a bit easier. Last year, I read some books by Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing and Spark Joy. We are in the process of decluttering which is a massive project. I stayed up last night rereading these great guides for getting your life in order so that you can enjoy the things that matter most to you….whatever that is. If I am thinking about purchasing something and it doesn’t bring true joy, I don’t purchase it. It is sort of a savings plan that appeals to my thinking as a wealth advisor. It never hurts to pause and ask the question…do I love this enough to part with my money or is there another experience I could enjoy or a cause I could support with this money. It all comes down to choices.